Alyssa Marie Proves Timelessness on Deja Vu, Recalls Hits with Live Band

Timeless music is defined as music that’s able to be played at any time and still be relevant. Alyssa Marie was able to raise hell with her timeless hits from 2010, and now she’s back with a live band to tell us those same stories that prove to be germane to today.

Since her project Louder Than Words hit the streets over a year ago, she’s recollected herself with a live band to remaster her past hits on Deja Vu, transcending her music to a higher level of soul.

Her first single is “Freedum,” which traces back to a freestyle over Atmosphere’s ‘LoveLife’ that she released back in 2011. As an obvious play on words, this record immediately detaches Alyssa from the heavy instrumentals produced by the DopeBoyz, enabling us to more clearly comprehend her prominent voice.

My take is that, we’re living in a world where bullshit and half-assing work is acceptable; where what we have isn’t enough because another person is flexing much harder. “Freedum” reveals that despite the social constructs built by the media, despite the world’s seemingly confidence leaders, and despite that freedom is a human right, we tend to trap ourselves within these constructs, thus preventing us from evolving.

There’s moments where I feel stagnant. Despite my liberty to truly fly into my craft, I find myself nailed to the ground at times when comparing myself to others with a similar goal to my own.

The ‘freedum’ we all succumb to is simply a lack of self-confidence. Not the financial, physical, or spiritual confidence, but the true confidence to be oneself while disregarding anyone’s opinion, which in turn allows us to evolve.

“Raise Hell” is a remastered version of its hip hop counterpart off her second album No Parades on Easy Streets. As the title of the record depicts, its Alyssa at her finest as she explains how there’s no shortcuts to becoming a positive impact in the world. She doesn’t crave attention or fame, and seeks only to educate and single-handedly prove that a conscious rapper will be deeply engraved in our minds.

Lyricism is unfortunately a lost craft in mainstream hip hop. It seems like the more high up an artist is in the mainstream hip hop rankings, the less down to earth the artist is. I’m not one to assume that these rappers don’t have personal issues they deal with, however, I’d much rather hear a story about discomfort, depression, happiness, or enjoyment than simply fuck bitches, get money, and hoes.

I remember hip hop when artists wanted to showcase their lyrical capabilities. When artists wanted to prove a point on content that actually mattered. From my point of view, to raise hell is like reviving the true essence of rap – and Alyssa is doing just that.

So for a rapper who’s able to make music that deconstructs what ‘freedom’ actually means for us, all while making records that allows her to flex the essence of hip hop, is there a reason to not label Alyssa Marie as timeless? For more on Alyssa and the band, stream Deja Vu below.